NYCAASC 2018: Emergence Workshops

Critical Nostalgia: Negotiating Heritage for Asian artists in the North American Diaspora

GC 261, 11:45 - 1:10

Often caught between the white gaze of the art world and our own self-romanticizing pitfalls, visual artists have used critical histories to help dismantle stereotypes of exoticism and Orientalism. At the same time, there are aspects of our identity that could become complicit to settler-colonialism and other forms of oppression if left unspoken. This workshop explores the nuances of dis/empowerment when it comes to denying or including visual elements of our heritage in artwork. It shows the ways in which Asian artists from the diaspora have navigated their identity and its presentation through a critical nostalgia.

Florence Yee

Florence Yee is a 2.5-generation, Canto-struggling visual artist based in Montreal/Tiotia:ke. She holds a BFA from Concordia University, and is a MFA candidate in OCAD U's interdiscplinary art, media and design program. Through her practices, she explores her relationship to her language, her grandmother, and her queer, racialized self.